Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping has exercised an option connected with an order for 5 × 15,000-teu boxships placed in November 2017, and requested another six vessels. All 11 engines involved in the order will be powered by MAN B&W-branded two-stroke engines.
MAN Energy Solutions reports that the first five engines will be conventional MAN B&W 11G90ME-C units equipped with scrubbers that are due for delivery between 2019-2020. The additional six units will be built as MAN B&W 11G90ME-GI dual-fuel configurations operating on LNG with delivery dates scheduled between 2020-2022. Each of the 11 neo-Panamax boxships will be constructed at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI).
Bjarne Foldager – Senior Vice President, Head of Two-Stroke Business at MAN Energy Solutions – said: “We’re very pleased to have landed this significant order within such a key segment and in the face of stiff competition. We currently have 55 ME-GI engines in service that have logged over 265,000 running hours, as a result of which the ME-GI engine has become an industry standard. I thank Eastern Pacific for placing its trust in our technology.”
Each of the 6 × ME-GI engines will feature MAN Energy Solutions’ new pump vaporizer unit (PVU), an innovative, low-cost pump unit for the supply of LNG to the ME-GI engines.
Foldager added: “We’re also very happy that Eastern Pacific has chosen our new pump vaporizer unit, which makes the fuel gas-supply system installation significantly more compact. Apart from the reduced cost and weight, ordering both PVU and engine from the same designer provides many other advantages, including easier integration and straightforward installation.”
MAN Energy Solutions reports that it has over 200 ME-GI units on its order books or already in service, with references in every major marine segment, and that the engine can rightly be considered as mature technology. The ME-GI continues to act as a standard bearer for environmentally friendly, reliable propulsion technology with its seamless switching between fuels and elimination of methane slip.
The company also states that it has confirmed 250+ sales within its entire portfolio of dual-fuel engines – all running on LNG or other, clean fuels such as LPG and methanol – testament to its leadership within this critical market segment.
Source: MAN